


Flight

by calenlily



Category: Dragonriders of Pern - McCaffrey
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-24
Updated: 2009-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-05 05:12:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/38155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calenlily/pseuds/calenlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She launched herself in one swift movement, a sudden golden streak into the sky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [grav_ity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/grav_ity/gifts).



She launched herself in one swift movement, a sudden golden streak into the sky. A flurry of bronze wings rose behind her, but she paid them no heed. And why should she? She was stronger, faster, rising far above them already. The sky was hers, and she reveled in the freedom of the open air.

She soared high, catching a thermal and gliding effortlessly for a stretch, then dropping off it, tumbling down in a controlled and acrobatic dive. Hovering lower, she twisted through a series of mountain passes with hairpin turns, skimming barely above the rocky peaks. She changed directions in an instant, shooting back up.

Her pack of followers was beginning to dwindle, she noted with disdainful pride. She dropped through their ranks, forcing the bronzes to scatter hurriedly or risk collision. One tried to snare her as she passed, but she was not nearly ready to be caught yet. Several did not rejoin the chase.

And then she was once more whirling away from her would-be lovers, spiraling high above them. She cut through the air in intricate patterns, turning on a wingtip and pulling up sharp on a moment’s whim.

In time she began to tire even of this freewheeling and glanced back at her followers. Some half a dozen remained in pursuit. That would never do. They had not done nearly enough yet to prove themselves worthy of _her_. And she was off again.

When she deigned to consider them again, only three of the most resilient yet remained. She appraised them critically; she supposed any one of them might be acceptable. It was time to make her choice.

And as she surveyed her suitors, she realized it was hardly a choice at all. For one was just slightly ahead of the others, just slightly less fatigued … and though she did not consciously identify the bond of previous matings and their riders’ affections, there was some subtle factor that drew her to him. She dropped into his reach, and he seized upon the opportunity, twining his neck about hers and covering her wings with his so that she was irrevocably caught.

Somewhere far below, the Weyrwoman paused, and accepted a bronze rider’s embrace.

As the dragons fell entwined, her mind was abruptly her own again, released from its fusion with her golden lifemate’s, but the emotions continued to wash over her. The sensation was familiar by now, and by no means unwelcome, but nonetheless she was momentarily unbalanced by its intensity. Lost in that torrent of emotions not wholly her own, she clung to the man who held her possessively to him, his solid presence giving her focus. His hands tangled in the waves of her hair as he tilted her head up towards his. He kissed her hungrily, all the passion of dragonlust amplified by buried human attachments, and she knew nothing, nothing but the desperate need to have him inside her.

***

Dragonlust faded into tenderness as they lay sated in the afterglow. He gently brushed loose waves of her hair back from her face, the familiar gesture allowing him to better study her beloved visage. Almost afraid of crushing her delicate frame, he rolled off of her. She settled comfortably into a new position, her head pillowed on his chest.

She peered at him through half-lidded eyes. “So it is you,” she murmured.

“Did you ever doubt?” he teased gently. “As if I would ever let another have you.”

“As if I would give myself to another,” she scoffed. “No, I knew. I knew so very well.”

His smile was tender, and exceedingly satisfied. “Mine,” he murmured affectionately, with as much reverence as possessiveness. “Always mine.”

“As you are mine,” she agreed contentedly, sleepily burrowing into his chest. Her eyes drifted closed.


End file.
